Sneak peek at urban fantasy episode Lost Souls: Altercation!

The next episode of my Lost Souls series is coming Monday, April 22nd.  I know you’re dieing to know what happened to Samantha and Christian!  In the last episode, Christian was caught by Daniel.  Ben and Damien, of all people (well, not really since he’s a Changed) were working together to find Samantha.  Here’s a sneak peek for you!

The World of the Lost Souls

Souls who refuse to pass into the afterlife become wandering spirits, trapped between the world of the living and the dead.  These are the Lost Souls.  Some of these Lost Souls have banded together, uniting to fight against an evil endangering both their existence and the safety of the human world they once inhabited.  This evil has taken shape in unholy creatures called the Changed, beings who were once Lost Souls but who are now dark, dangerous and disturbed monsters.  The Changed feed on the energy of the Lost Souls, growing stronger with each Lost Soul they drain.  The ultimate goal of the Changed is to harness enough energy to return to the land of the living by possessing the body of a human.  The mission of the Lost Souls is to stop them…

Altercation – Prologue

Pain.  Bright spots of white hotness flashed before her closed eyes.  Then blackness.  Complete blackness.  She wasn’t supposed to feel so much pain.  She no longer had human flesh.  Sam opened her eyes.  It was still dark.  How could there still be such blackness?  Souls could see in the dark.  But this was a black like she had never encountered before.  A cold, death-like black.  Maybe something was blocking her vision.  She turned her head slightly.

Her body came alive.  Her hands were stretched above her head.  She tried to move them, and found she could only move her fingers, something was holding her wrists down.  A feeling of dread began to well up inside her, knotting her stomach.  She attempted to move her legs, but found her ankles were also bound.

God, no, she pleaded as images came rushing back to her of another time, another place.  Her muscles ached in that same familiar way.  She had been here before.  Exactly like this.

Helpless.  Defenseless.

Her stomach twisted tight and panic gnawed at the corners of her sanity.  No!  No!  It couldn’t be.  He was dead!  They had killed him.  Damien had…

Tears sprang to life in her eyes.  She twisted her hands, desperately trying to free herself, but no matter how hard she pulled, her bindings held her with an unrelenting bite.

Calm yourself, she mentally said.  This won’t help you.  Think!  She willed herself still.  She willed the tears away.  She willed the panic back.  She was trembling, but she had to focus.  She swallowed the fear that threatened her calm.

She could feel the straps of leather across her wrists.  They must have been made of iron or she would have been able to free herself.  There must also be straps around her ankles.  She couldn’t faze.  The iron kept her bound and incapable of fazing to a different location.  She could feel her leather boots on her feet, so she was still armored.  She couldn’t feel her sword at her back.  No, she had dropped that in the alley where she had battled the Changed.  Yes!  The Changed.  A small sigh of relief escaped her lips.  It was only Changed.  She was a prisoner of the Changed.  Not his prisoner.  The thought of being a captive of the Changed should have alarmed her, but that was much better than the alternative.

Okay.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  What else?  What had happened to her?

She had been in an alley with her silver Audi.  Four Changed had overcome her.  Then why was she still alive?  They had not drained her completely.  What did they want?

She heard a creaking.  She heard something else being scraped across a floor.  Something heavy.

Her questions were about to be answered.

Whatever had been blocking her vision was removed from her head, abruptly pulled off.  It was a black bag of some sort.  A lock of her black hair fell over her lips.  She blinked and squinted as the room came into focus.  Cathedral ceilings towered above her.  To her right on the wall was a large cross.  She turned her head, looking around.  Statues stared down at her from high above, as if casting judgment with unseeing eyes.  She turned her head the other way.  Rows of pews lined an aisle.  She was in a church.

“Ahh!”  A Changed leaned into her view.  His brown hair was long and wild, falling about his face like a curtain.  His grin was malevolent and anxious.

Sam remembered him from the alley.  He was the one who had stood next to the leader.

“So glad you’re awake for this.”  He leaned in closer, his hair brushing her face.  “It makes it all the more exciting.”

Sam stared at him with impassive eyes.  Don’t let him know you’re afraid.  She tugged at her wrists.  “Why don’t you unstrap me.  I’ll show you how exciting it can really be.”

The Changed smiled and looked her up and down.  “You’re one of the prettiest Souls I’ve ever seen.  I’m going to enjoy this.”

She cringed inwardly.  “I can make it even more enjoyable.”  With one of my boots to your ass.

He wiped the strand of hair from her cheek, running his finger over her lips before she could pull away from his touch.  “I bet you’re just like fire, aren’t you?”

She did her best not to squirm with disgust.  “It’s hard to be so hot when you’re tied up.”

He hopped up onto the stone altar she was strapped to, his legs straddling her hips.  He leaned close so his lips almost touched hers.  “I can’t wait to stick my fist into you, baby.”

Sam turned away from him, grimacing, her teeth clenched tight.  She was going to kick his ass but good when she got out.  “I hope my energy burns your sick and demented soul.”

The Changed chuckled softly, his body rumbling on top of hers.  “You are just one hot little –”

“Off.”

The Changed sat up and looked toward the door at the side of the church.

Another Changed stood there.  He was lean and confident, his hands at his side.  His short dark hair was peppered with gray.  Sam thought of a slick businessman when she looked at him.  She had seen him before.  The leader in the alley.  What the hell was this?  Some sort of great big group draining?  Great.  Just great.  How the hell was she going to get out of this?

“Aw,” the Changed on top of her groaned.  He ground his hips into her stomach.  “She’s too hot not to get attention.  Besides, the boss said I could take some of her sweet energy.”

Boss?  How many Changed are working together?  “How many of you Changed does it take to capture me?”

The business leader Changed ignored her.  “He won’t like you abusing her.”

“I was just having some fun.”  The Changed on top of her slowly slid his body from hers, making sure he rubbed against her thighs.

Sam clenched her teeth, disgusted.

“She’s not here for fun, Curtis.  She’s here for draining.  So do it.”

She knew what was coming.  She had been in this position before.  Strapped down to a table at the mercy of a Changed named Scala.  They were going to feed on her energy.  Drain her and recharge her so they could keep feeding on her.  But there was something more than just that going on here.  Sam couldn’t shake the terrible feeling surrounding her.  The Changed did not normally work together.  They were loners.   Who was this other Changed they were talking about?  They had said he so it was a man.

Could Scala still be alive?

She mentally shook her head.  No, they had killed him.  Damien had driven a dagger into the human host’s body, killing both the human and Scala.  That was how a Changed was killed.  Once a Changed made the Jump into a living human they were vulnerable again.  If a Soul killed the human host, the Changed lurking within was also killed.  And if Damien hadn’t destroyed Scala, they had also blasted him.  She, Ben and Christian had channeled their energies together to blast Scala’s life force into nothingness.  It couldn’t be him.  It couldn’t be Scala.  Besides, the surroundings didn’t match Scala’s MO.  Scala preferred barns, not churches.  No, this must be some kind of copycat.  Still, she couldn’t get that unsettling feeling out of her body that this was too similar to the time Scala held her as his prisoner.

Curtis swiped his brown hair from his forehead, gazing down at her chest with a hungry, lusty grin on his lips.  He slowly pulled the string on her black leather bodice, staring down at her.

Sam grit her teeth.  She was going to kill him, and she was going to enjoy doing it.

“Curtis,” the other Changed warned.

“I like to drain skin to skin.”  His smile was wolfish as he pulled the string and her bodice opened, revealing the curve of her breasts.  His gaze dropped to her chest, feasting appreciatively.  His finger followed his hungry gaze, traveling over the swell of her breasts.

Sam’s fists clenched.  “Why don’t you unstrap me so I can enjoy this, too?”

“Orders,” Curtis whispered.  He curled his fingers into a fist, holding it right above where her heart would be if she had been a living human.  “I’d much rather have you fighting when I drained you.”

Sam snarled at him.

Curtis slowly pushed his fist into her.

Pain erupted in white hot flashes.  Sam’s body stiffened as he shoved his hand in deeper.  Her mouth opened in a silent gasp as bolts of agony speared through every nerve of her body.

Look for Lost Souls: Altercation on Monday!  Let me know what you think…